into the dark
by TheLostRelic
Summary: "Tartarus is basically the Labyrinth all over again except on steroids. The pit is evolving, changing, adapting to tailor itself to us both. It's not just a pit crammed with monsters. No, that would be too simple. That wouldn't break a person. Tartarus is formless, liquid fear that lives and breathes, feeding itself off the terror of those trapped inside it."


**into the dark**

* * *

_if there's no one beside you when your soul embarks, then __**i'll follow you into the dark**_

**1**

Percy Jackson fell into Tartarus with a smile.

In a time when all other heroes, all other demigods, all other deities would have felt the icy, constricting clutches of terror, he fell with a smile. Because even though he was falling into hell, it didn't matter, because Elysium incarnate was falling with him. She was his heaven, his light, his joy, his pain, his pleasure, his shelter, his friend, his love, his _everything_. And so if her soul embarks, he'll follow her into the dark willingly.

Hesiod said that the trip to the bottom of Tartarus would take nine days and nine nights. Percy's not too sure about that. He feels like he's been falling forever, but because Annabeth's holding onto him, it doesn't matter much.

The first thing he thinks when he hits the bottom is, _Oh, guess it wasn't a bottomless pit after all. _That cheeky bastard.

Annabeth tells him so when he tells her. He just smiles back at her like an insufferable goofball, like her Seaweed Brain, and even though she's literally in the darkest, deepest part of hell, she cracks a smile of her own. To Percy, you might as well have just brought the sun, in all its resplendent glory, down into that pit. To him, it's as good as that.

The first thing he does when he hits the bottom is to lean over to her and playfully kiss her. Just a small one, but it's enough for the both of them. Annabeth rolls her eyes when they break away, but she's smiling, so all is well. Playfully, she pushes him away from her and stands on her feet, searching through the impenetrable darkness.

"Come on, Seaweed Brain. Let's find those doors," she says, speaking as though the Doors of Epirus are literally waiting around the corner. He tells her that with a smirk, and she smirks back. "Can't you see the giant neon sign over there that says 'Emergency Exit'?" she jokes, and he laughs.

He stands up as well, and takes her hand in his own. Together, they begin to trek through the endless darkness, but Annabeth has Percy, and Percy has Annabeth. That's all they really need.

**two**

Tartarus makes me sober up quickly. There are always unpleasant noises, tormented screams, and phantasmic hallucinations each more terrifying and unsettling than the last. I quickly learn that Tartarus has been used as the final jail cell for the scum of the universe for a reason - it's mortifying. Tartarus is fairly simple, and operates on a set of guidelines. Tartarus is god. Fear is his law. It is really that simple, and that was why it was so terrifying.

The crazy thing about hell is that it's different for each person. I see my mom or Grover or Tyson or Paul being dismembered slowly, whereas Annabeth cries and runs in a random direction, screaming something about saving Luke. She later tells me that she hears his screams as Kronos slowly possesses his body and pollutes his mind. Hell is different for us both, and so we can't even comfort one another about our visions because we haven't seen the others. We try, but there's no _understanding_; all we can do is suffer together.

We fight monsters everyday: faceless, demented, and nefarious beings that seemed to originate in the dark. I'm convinced that Tartarus is literally fashioning monsters out of itself to hurl at us. It is all like one giant psychological torture chamber, designed for the sole purpose of unhinging its occupants. I can't fathom spending an eternity here like Kronos had to. No wonder he was so cranky.

Tartarus is basically the Labyrinth all over again except on steroids. The pit is evolving, changing, adapting to tailor itself to us both. Tartarus is neither wet nor dry, hot nor cold - it's all those, all at once. It is very much alive. It's not just a pit crammed with monsters. No, that would be too simple. That wouldn't _break_ a person. Tartarus is formless, liquid fear that lives and breathes, feeding itself off the terror of those trapped inside it. It could be endless or it could be a simple loop - we would never know the truth.

Nightmares and reality no longer exist in separate realms. My deepest fears manifest themselves in the maw of Tartarus, and shutting my eyes offers no reprieve. It's like being blind, but infinitely worse. The psychological toll is incomprehensible.

One day, Annabeth touches my face without warning, and whispers, "Are you real?" I cry for the first time that day since the fall.

I tell her, "Yes, yes I am real." Annabeth looks conflicted, and I know that if I lose her, I'll lose myself. I need her to stay sane for both our sakes.

So I look at her, and say, "C'mon, don't you see that big flashing neon sign over there?"

She gives me a sidelong glance, but a smile is threatening to erupt. "Oh, yeah? What's it say, Seaweed Brain?"

"It says 'NO Vacancy'; Tartarus is already filled, Wise Girl. I'm afraid we're getting evicted," I say with a smirk. She laughs, and for the first time since the fall, I feel warm.

**ooo**

_(Lights. Camera. Action)_

_Panoramic shot. Percy and Annabeth enter scene, walking in darkness. Both have weapons drawn. Annabeth looks cautious. Percy is fidgety. They walk with their hands clasped, waiting for a hint of a spark. In an effort to maintain his sanity, Percy cracks stupid jokes._

[percy]: Hey, hey Annabeth?

[annabeth]: Gods, _what_, Percy?

(She used his real name. Shit just got real.)

[percy]: How does Chiron feel when he's got a sore throat?

_Annabeth rolls eyes._

[annabeth]: I don't know. _How_?"

_Percy smirks. Side view camera angle. _

[percy]: A little _hoarse_! Get it?

_Annabeth stares blankly. _

[annabeth]: Percy, that wasn't even a joke.

[percy]: Hey, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[annabeth]: I don't understand on what planet that would be considered a joke.

_Annabeth shakes head during line. _

[percy]: I'm literally stuck in hell, Wise Girl. Cut me a little slack.

[annabeth]: Sounds like you're making excuses, Seaweed Derp.

_Percy frowns._

[percy]: Seaweed _derp_? That's insulting.

[annabeth]: Gee, did you work that one out all by yourself?

_Insert theatric pause._

[percy]: You're taking this 'not-being-easy-on-me' thing _way_ too seriously.

[annabeth]: Always, Seaweed derp. Always.

**2+2**

_nonono! _he screams in his head. he's running. annabeth is bloody in his arms. not enough nectar. no more ambrosia.

"it hurts, seaweed brain. a lot."

her painful, soft voice makes his heart bleed.

_muststopthebleeding, muststopthebleeding, muststopthebleeding. _please stop laughing. please stop. no more please. stop.

"i know, wise girl. i know."

he works quickly. he can't help.

"well, uh, it looks like you're all set."

black. black. black. black. black. the blackest of rooms.

"perce?"

red. red. red. red. red. like rivers of ketchup.

"perce?"

shaking fingers. shock. trauma. red. blood. pain. heart hurts. hurts too much.

"huh? what's up, wise girl?"

"i'm dying, perce."

"nah, you're all set. i fixed you. no more wise girl leaks!"

"perce. if i won't make i-"

"yes you will."

"but-"

"you will."

pause.

"okay."

"okay."

"okay."

"okay."

_mustleavenow, mustleavetartarus, mustleavehell. toomuchblood, toomuchred, toomucheverything. mustsavemyannabeth, mustsavemywisegirl, mustsaveher. _

**quintus**

You think that the Doors of Epirus are thoroughly ordinary, merely ebony colored wooden doors that are about a hundred feet tall. There's no bright tunnels of white or pearly gates waiting for you at the end of your journey. Certainly, you expected far more fanfare and frippery after finally seeing the fated "Doors of Death." It's only when you walk closer that you realize it's not made of wood at all. Or that it isn't a door for that manner.

It's a flap.

You swallow.

That's Tartarus's _throat_.

It's actually his epiglottis, that little flap that covers the trachea when you're trying to eat food and breath at the same time. It's partitioned into two separate halves. You hope to the gods that Nico kept up his end of the deal. If he's not there, then all of this is for naught.

Gently, you set the blonde angel hanging onto your back like a baby koala onto the ground. For a second, you look at her with a slight smile, but it communicates more than any words could ever say. It's all your love in one single expression. Your hands ghost over her cold, pasty forehead, and you brush away strands of hair that lie plastered to her scalp. Even though you can't see her, even though she smells like death and rotting corpses, even though she's not even conscious, you still think she's the most perfect, beautiful thing in the world.

You try to push against the doors, but they don't open. Nico must not have been on the other side yet. You want to cry with frustration, but you don't even have the energy to do that. Your feet each feel like they weigh a ton. You're bleeding in so many places, you're pretty sure your clothes have changed color. You can't remember the last time you've actually had a good night of sleep. You often find yourself fantasizing about stupid things like infomercials or pocket protectors. Tartarus has truly done a number on your mind.

In what seems like an eternity and a second at the same time, the doors bulge from the other side. A deep rumble echoes through Tartarus, and you stand with you weapon drawn. Annabeth's breathing, but only barely. You know that Nico has finally arrived, and that Tartarus is making one final effort to contain you. Just like you thought, the shadows clinging to the edges of Tartarus take shape, and hordes, legions of monsters from the abyss; monsters you have never seen before, so demented and powerful it makes your skin crawl, monsters that make Kampe and Arachne look tame. Tartarus is holding nothing back. It wants you to stay. It will _make_ you stay.

Mechanically, you slash through the monsters, but you can feel them tearing, tearing away at your skin. Your mind goes into overdrive, centuries of war fighting experience from greats like Leonidas and Hercules and Perseus and Jason course through your veins like liquid courage. Somehow, you manage to keep Annabeth from harm, and you realize in a brief moment of respite that your body's natural instinct was to do that for you, to absorb any and all blows directed at her. You can't remember ever feeling so much love for a person in your life, that your subconscious values her well-being more than your own.

You make it past the doors and frantically pull, and while you feel it give, the doors are fighting back at you. A single sliver of light (not sunlight, but _light_) filters through the tiny crevice you've created, and you feel a sudden surge of determination flood through your body. You're doing this. You're going to get out. You'll be free. You'll save Annabeth. You're almost there. Just a little bit more.

A streak of pale, golden hair - Jason. A glint of kaleidoscope eyes - Piper. Pudgy, yet muscular fingers - Frank. Gentle, coffee colored skin - Hazel. A flash of white teeth - Leo. Black, stygian iron - Nico.

The doors finally prize open, and the light is blinding. Another rumble echoes through Tartarus as though the pit is shivering with disdain. The shadows are reaching for you, grabbing at every appendage of your body, but when you realize that Annabeth is lying on your back seven-eighth's dead, you find the courage to grit your teeth and push through.

All at once, the doors, err-throatal flaps, of death fly open all at once. A strange unnatural light all to common in Hades blinds you instantaneously, but all you can think is that it is still light nonetheless. Then you promptly register the fact that the doors have yet to be closed, and there are tendrils of shadows shooting forth, manifesting into monsters. You sprint away from the hubbub, and deposit Annabeth at a relatively safe distance.

For lack of a better phrase, all hell has broken loose. Legions of monsters are pouring out of Tartarus like a plague of locusts, coming towards the six demigods behind you. You feel a sudden anger course through your veins and unimaginable power follows. Stabbing Riptide into the obsidian rock beneath you, you focus all your energies in rending the earth. Now is the time to live up to your father's name: Earth-shaker.

A fissure opens up between the monsters and your friends, and the earth howls in pain, but you will not desist. You continue, concentrating every fiber of your being on this single task. The earth quakes beneath your feet as monsters are thrown into the tear like ninepins. With one final howl of exertion, you've managed to open a gash about half a mile long, distancing yourself from the monsters.

Jason and Nico bound forwards, resting utop dragon-Frank as they soar towards the doors. You watch as they manage to shut them, and you feel victorious but dead tired. It's about time for a nap. You better hope Nico or Leo doesn't draw on your face. It's safe to assume that Piper probably wouldn't let them, but you don't want to take the risk anyways.

Your friends approach you, infectious grins on their faces. They clap your back and laugh and smile and all of you go back into the Argo II, and Annabeth's once again clinging to your back like a koala. You remember that Annabeth once told you about the "Multiverse Model" of parallel universes back during a lazy day in the Strawberry Fields in Camp when you just wanted to eat your strawberries in peace, but she wanted you to get a healthy portion of science along with it too. She said that physicists theorized that the future is actually a series of multiple different universes that collapse down into one knowable reality depending on the choices that we make.

You think about all of the possibilities that the future may hold, whether a big marriage and quiet life with kids is in the cards. Probably not. The one thing that you know for certain is that you've made all the right choices. The boisterous group of teenagers you call friends walking in front of you and the angel clinging to your back tell you that you have. You're happy with your choices, and somehow, looking at the soft smile on Annabeth's face, you know that she is too.

* * *

**A/N: Hellooo everyone! So, I actually don't know what this is. It's more so a literary experiment than anything else, so I apologize if it's not up to par with my other stuff. It's kind of my take on the whole Tartarus "Ohmygodstheyfell!" hysteria on fanfiction. Personally, I think that the first sentence captures my opinion on Percy+Tartarus perfectly. Percy and Annabeth aren't the type of people that would get depressed or broken by something like Tartarus, so this is really kind of humorous and light at parts when it probably shouldn't be. Keep in mind that I've been working on this one-shot for like two months, so I wrote the part about the "throatal flaps of death" before the new cover was unveiled. **

**So I'll explain the story a bit more, just for fun and giggles. It's following a numbering system where each segment is done in a different literary style. 1 - Third Person. 2 - First Person. 3 - Screenplay. 4 - (what I like to call) Bare Verse. 5 - Second Person. There are three circles for the third part, 2+2 for the fourth part, and quintus (for those of you that remember Battle of the Labyrinth) means fifth in Latin. I thought I was being awfully creative, haha. I actually tried to write a poem! Haha, yeah no. I'm actually not a bad poet, but I would die if you read any of my stuff. Maybe in the future. Derp. **

**The whole thing is based off the song by Death Cab for Cutie, "I Will Follow You Into The Dark" which is like one of my all time favorite songs. There's a bunch of lines from the song (cleverly) implanted throughout the story (can you find them all?). I kinda botched the ending, but that was my last ditch attempt to inject some meaning into a rather meaningless story (and we all know that that's not how I roll). I don't know! This story is just really weird! Aargh! ASDGHADSLAG! Okay, I'll stop talking/typing now. Bye. =D**


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